Artist renderings of Aurora Highlands concepts. The first phase of the development is expected to span 2,900 acres before growing to nearly 5,000 acres in later phases. Once it’s complete, the project could be home to as many as 23,000 families. PHOTO SUPPLIED 
Artist renderings of Aurora Highlands concepts. The first phase of the development is expected to span 2,900 acres before growing to nearly 5,000 acres in later phases. Once it’s complete, the project could be home to as many as 23,000 families. PHOTO SUPPLIED 
Artist renderings of Aurora Highlands concepts. The first phase of the development is expected to span 2,900 acres before growing to nearly 5,000 acres in later phases. Once it’s complete, the project could be home to as many as 23,000 families. PHOTO SUPPLIED 
A rendering of the proposed Aurora Highlands development south of DIA. This image is a screenshot of a video provided courtesy of Amy Larson and COHN Marketing.
AURORA | A pair of new fire stations could be constructed in far east Aurora in the coming decades, but who will pay for the facilities is becoming an increasingly testy question among city politicos.
At a policy committee meeting Nov. 15, a trio of Aurora City Council members aired their grievances over an apparent lack of funding and organization regarding public services at the forthcoming Aurora Highlands development beside E-470.
The development is anticipated to generate about 23,000 homes over nearly 3,000 acres in the first phase of development over the next decade. The project could boast as many as 60,000 new residents in a 5,000-acre area in the long-term.
All of those new residents could require at least two new fire stations to the tune of more than $20 million, according to information presented by staffers from Aurora Fire Rescue at the policy committee meeting earlier this month.
“The total buildout is going to be a shocking, an alarming number,” Allen Robnett, a commander for Aurora Fire Rescue, said of Highlands population predictions at the meeting. “However, we can’t really predict how long that’s going to take to get to that level.”
City Councilwoman Nicole Johnston, who sits on the board for the Regional Transportation Authority, said the development likely won’t get to the projected levels for about two decades.
While Aurora Fire Rescue doesn’t have a specific staffing ratio of residents to firefighters, the department is analyzing the projected number of residents, among other factors, to determine where and when it could build new outposts.
“The number of structures will certainly be taken into consideration along with a number of other factors to determine a time frame to construct additional fire stations,” a spokesperson for Aurora Fire Rescue said in a statement. “The additional factors include metrics such as the total number of responses in the area, response times to the area, the number of units required to safely respond, and the occupancy types (residential versus commercial). This approach is a proven methodology to ensure appropriate fire and medical services are provided in growing communities.”
Currently, it would take Aurora firefighters traveling from the closest station to the future development about nine minutes to get to the area, according to AFR documents. Those first responders would be coming from the city’s northeastern station 12, located between East 32nd Parkway and East 38th Avenue.
Follow-up responders coming from station 16 and station 5 would arrive in 10 minutes and 11 minutes, respectively.
To improve those times, Highlands developers will have to significantly bolster connectivity around E-470, officials say.
“They will have to do some significant changes to the infrastructure (and) the roadways to get in and out of this facility,” Robnett said.
Nationally, fire departments should have the ability to send an “initial full alarm assignment” within eight minutes to most incidents, according to standards outlined by the National Fire Protection Association.
Aurora Fire Chief Fernando Gray said the city could also look into building a so-called “super station,” which would serve a larger area and cost slightly less than two separate buildings.
“Instead of having, again, multiple, $10 million investments, maybe you invest $15 million in a larger facility,” Gray said. “Because you’re servicing an area that has a more dense population.”
Each new station would also require another $1 million to fund new trucks and ladders, and as much as $1.6 million each year to pay the some 16 full-time workers needed to staff each facility, according to Sean Moran, president of the local union for Aurora firefighters.
But who pays for those new roads, stations and firefighters has already ruffled feathers among council members.
“I have been very vocal on very many meetings about how I think that the city of Aurora is a little too fast and loose with allowing developers to not invest in infrastructure,” said City Councilwoman Allison Hiltz, who also sits on the public safety committee. “ … I think that this development needs to be bucking up the money to pay for a station.”
While a framework development plan for the Highlands was released earlier this year, developer site plans that could outline where new fire stations will be constructed will likely be released early next year.
Barring any changes, the new stations will be funded by standard, taxpayer-subsidized mechanisms, according to Jason Batchelor, deputy city manager. Batchelor said a portion of the construction costs could be buoyed by a capital impact fee, which is currently about $1,500 per single-family home. He said the city will collaborate with the developer to determine the best potential location for firehouses.
“We will work with the developer to try to understand their timeline,” Batchelor said. “How quickly they’re going to develop, the development pattern, whether they’re starting in the south moving north, or east moving west.”
Charlie Richardson, who currently serves as chair of the public safety committee, underscored a desire to steer planners away from constructing “temporary fire stations,” which have been implemented in some of the city’s newer neighborhoods. A temporary station in Murphy Creek, housed within a residential home, was in use for about 12 years.
“The city has this concept of temporary fire stations — that does an injustice to the word ’temporary’ and I’m surprised a temporary defense fund for that word hasn’t come into existence for being slurred,” Richardson said. “ … I don’t care what it takes, these temporary fire stations morph into permanent fire stations.”
Moran said a fire station in Aurora can only be deemed “temporary” for 10 years.
The Regional Transportation Authority, which has been tasked with outlining funding for the infrastructure around the so-called aerotropolis surrounding Denver international Airport, is currently in the process of solidifying the first round of funding for road projects along E-470 and Interstate 70.
The group, which comprises members from Aurora City Council, the Adams County Commissioners and one private consultant from Denver, is currently considering a proposal for what would effectively be a $175 million loan with a 9 percent interest rate, according to City Councilwoman Nicole Johnston, who serves on the RTA.
A nearby metro district will also cover a portion of the infrastructure costs.
The benefactor behind the loan has remained anonymous, but is allegedly tied to the Aurora Highlands LLC, according to Johnston. The developer briefly backed out of the loan deal after a ceremonial groundbreaking in September due to hang-ups with oil and gas development at the site. The developer has since reached an agreement with ConocoPhillips.
Johnston has pushed for sending the funding process to a request for proposal, which would slightly delay development for the Highlands. It could also net the RTA a better interest rate, she said.
“A lot of things are up in the air right now,” Johnston said.